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Nevada Evens Series Against The Broncos

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BOISE, Idaho - Boise State dropped a 9-1, six-inning decision to Nevada Saturday at Dona Larsen Park as the Wolf Pack evened the Mountain West series.

The Broncos will get a second chance to capture the series Sunday with first pitch scheduled for noon. Sunday will also serve as the Broncos' Senior Day, with Boise State honoring its seven seniors following the game.

"They have to make adjustments, we just kept doing the same thing with the pitches that were being thrown at us," said Boise State head coach Cindy Ball. "We just have to keep plugging away. New day, new game tomorrow."

Nevada (27-20, 12-8 MW) broke the game open with six runs in the top of the third. Raquel Martinez broke a 1-1 tie with a one-out, RBI double off of Bronco starter Christina Washington that brought in Ali Tedford. After Martinez advanced to third on a wild pitch, she came in on Sienna Swain's single to left, which prompted Boise State to bring Veronica Lynch into the circle for Washington. Lynch fared no better, walkng Erika Hansen then giving up an RBI double to Kenzi Goins and an RBI single to Aaliyah Gibson as the Wolf Pack upped their lead to 5-1. Two batters later, Nikki Orozco's base hit through the right side scored Goins and Gibson to give Nevada a 7-1 lead.

The Broncos (26-18, 8-12 MW) created some chances to cut into the deficit, with the first of those coming in the bottom of the third. Jessica McKay's one-out walk, a single from Tatiana Sorokina and a two-out walk from Rebekah Cervantes loaded the bases for clean-up hitter Makenze Sullivan, but Swain, playing second base, robbed the Broncos of multiple runs by making a lunging catch of Sullivan's line drive to the right side. An inning later, Morgan Lamb was hit by a pitch and Kora Wade singled to put two on with one out, but Nevada starter Kali Sargent was able to get pinch-hitter Corey Hendrickson to pop up and McKay to foul out to end the threat.

Sargent issued just a leadoff walk to Sullivan over the final two innings to complete her eighth win of the season, giving up just a run on three hits and striking out one. Along with the singles from Wade and Sorokina, Lamb was the only other Bronco to hit safely Saturday, slamming a solo homer in the bottom of the second, her fifth of the season.

The Wolf Pack got its final two runs with two away in the top of the sixth. Martinez, who went 2-for-3 on the day with two doubles and three runs scored, drew a walk off of Bronco reliever Rainey Dyreson, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Mele Tausinga's pinch-hit single to make it 8-1. Hansen then doubled down the right-field line to plate pinch-runner Swain from first to give Nevada the eight-run advantage.

Dyreson was the bright spot in the circle for the Broncos, giving up just two runs with a strikeout over three innings of work. After taking over for Lynch with two out in the third, Dyreson kept the Wolf Pack off the board in the fourth and fifth and got the first two batters of the sixth before running into trouble.

"I'm really proud of how Rainey came in and continued to get ahead. She did a good job of giving us a chance of getting back into it," Ball said of Dyreson's performance.

Washington fell to 14-9 with the loss for Boise State, giving up four runs on four hits over two and a third innings, while Lynch allowed three runs on three hits over just a third of a frame.